Monday, October 02, 2006

Another month, another move, more money spent... blah blah blah. I think my nomadic existence is nearing its end and that will be welcomed indeed. It's mainly the cooking/food thing that is bothering me about living in other people's homes, but the good news is that I didn't do too badly in September on that front: only $23 over my budget of $650. This was helped by having other people buy me dinner for 3 nights in a row last week. One of those dinners was at the home of a friend who lives out in the suburbs. I bought a round-trip train ticket for $15. But then when it came time to leave, we realized that I'd just missed a train back and the next one wouldn't be until quite late, so my friend offered to drive me home. I felt bad about this as it would be quite a long drive to Brooklyn and back. By the time I figured out what route she was going to take, I decided that a good solution would be to have her drop me off at Laguardia Airport so I could just take a cab the rest of the way.Of course it turned out that a shuttle had just gotten in so the cab line at the airport was quite long. I considered walking up to the front of the line and asking people if they were going to my neighborhood and offering to share, but I ended up just waiting in line and getting my own cab. Then I realized that I did not have the $38 I thought I had in my wallet, I only had about $30 in bills and about another $1.50 in change. It's been a while since I paid for a cab home from Laguardia, so I was suddenly worried about how much it would be-- as it turned out, I had my driver drop me off about a 5-minute walk from home as that was as far as $30 would take me.So that free dinner ended up costing me in other ways. Such is life. But on the other hand, the cab fare was worth it to feel like my friend would be more likely to get home safe-- $30 is nothing compared to the guilt of orphaning somebody's children!

2 comments:

It certainly isn't! Besides, $23 is less than 5% of your overall budget. I think you did very well.

(This is unrelated, but where did you find your blog layout? I'm having trouble figuring out how to get anything on the left side of my page. Any help would be appreciated, but if you can't, no biggie. Thanks.)

Next time, you might want to have your friend drop you at the Jamaica Station for the subway (though you likely already thought of, and dismissed, the idea). Would have been just over an hour, depending on what part of Brooklyn you live in (Heights less, further out more, of course).

About Me

My name is Madame X, and I am a 40-something single woman living in New York's lower Hudson Valley. I write about how much money I make, what I spend it on, how much I save, how I budget, my home-buying experiences, my financial goals and ambitions, my thoughts on class and what it means to be rich or poor, and anything else that relates to money. (More about me here, here, and here.)If you take any of my advice, do so at your own risk as I am not really qualified to give it. If you have advice to share, please do, and many thanks!